What is the point of School?

Wake said:

In that it uses racism to make things "more fair"? I'd wager yes.
Competency should be the main factor in getting into a college. Not skin color.

Click to expand...

Wake said:

School's focus is academics, not diversity.

Click to expand...

SE102 said:

And when one race dominates to the detriment of others... for say... 500 years up to 50 years ago.... then wat? Sorry if actually accomplishing things and having goals as a nation and working between races is hard, i feel like a victim too... :roll:

Click to expand...

sangha said:

Is that why they give out preferences to legacy students and atheletes?
For the academics?

Click to expand...

Wake said:

So use racism to favor the less competent over the more competent?

What do you mean by legacy student?
School is for learning. Not sports. Not politics. Not diversity.
It is for learning important topics like science and math.

Click to expand...

sangha said:

Applicants who are excepted because their parents went to the school. It's done to encourage the parents to donate money to the school where, you know, they focus on "academics" :lol:


Actually, many are for making money. And govts give them money for many reasons, not just learning.
Stating your beliefs as facts do not make your beliefs magically transform into facts

Click to expand...

SE102 said:

It's not racism theres no conception of a superior race or a would be caste system in this case. It's strategic redistribution of education opportunities to break a construct of a caste system that has existed for 500 years. Perspective please if we actually want to address this?

Click to expand...

Wake said:

School is meant for learning.
Not for donating money. Not to be a business. Etc.
School is meant for learning academic issues.

Click to expand...

sangha said:

You are wrong on all counts.
Again, expressing your beliefs as facts does not magically transform your beliefs into facts. Repeating them doesn't work the magic either

Click to expand...

Thunder said:

private universities make money. they make money teaching students.
their ultimate goal is to make money, as they are a business.

Click to expand...

My belief is that the focus of school is the teaching of academic issues.

[h=3]school/sko͞ol/
[/h]Noun: An institution for educating children.
Verb: Send to school; educate.
[h=3]u·ni·ver·si·ty/ˌyo͞onəˈvərsətē/
[/h]Noun: An educational institution designed for instruction, examination, or both, of students in many branches of advanced learning, conferring degrees in various faculties, and often embodying colleges and similar institutions.

[h=3]col·legeNoun/ˈkälij/
[/h]1. An educational institution or establishment, in particular.
2. One providing higher education or specialized professional or vocational training.

Click to expand...

1. I'm being told that the focus of such academic institutions isn't meant for learning academic issues. That's a bit confusing to me and so I wonder what you think about this.

2. The other point is whether or not it is right for universities to choose students based on race rather than competence.

The idea that school has one "point" is childishly simplistic.

Schools are meant to achieve several things, and it also depends on what kind of school you're talking about

For example, one of the things schools are meant to do is to discourage the sort of black and white thinking that leads someone to think that schools have one purpose

I believe schools are there to teach academics and to help prepare you for life and working in your chosen field. A by-product of academics is learning to think for yourself. Critical thinking I believe it's called. You look at all sides of a problem or issue and make your decision from that.

Higher education costs money, however. Lots and lots of it. So, universities must be run as a business, college athletics makes it a big business. Therefore the universities will choose some students based on athleticism. This athlete/student now gets a college degree in exchange for playing __________ (insert sport of choice) and making money for the school.

In my opinion this serves as a living model of business and economics. I went to college on a gymnastic scholorship. I learned more about reality from the scholarship than any class. I used to get so angry at how many resources went to football, but the lesson finally sank in. Football made lots of money, gymnastics - not so much.

At its most basic, school exists to prepare children to enter the work force later in life. This is especially true of college, and I wish more people realized it.

Schools should focus primarily on academics and critical thinking.

Private schools and colleges are a business. They exist to make money.

How do they make money? By charging students for an education.

In general, the point of school is to prepare students to work and to be effective citizens.

How schools are meant to accomplish this is where conflict occurs. I believe that they accomplish this by instructing students in (at least) four categories: basic academic knowledge; how to think and how to examine ideas; how to apply what the learn to the 'real world'; and how to create from what already exists.

Since my mom is a teacher this should be easy for me to discuss. If your an athlete, the hope of going to a good college team or going pro, is the point of school. Some say Academics, but believe it or not most kids smart and stupid are forced through our schools! Due to our dumb idea of "high test scores!" Just because a school has high test scores doesn't always mean its a great place to learn. A majority of great preforming schools send their trouble kids and non-preforming kids to other schools to inflate theirs. Then their is the whole bureaucracy on firing bad teachers. Then private schools and home schools I have left out. Private schools cost the parent out of pocket but are generally better for the child, if you have the money and they will let you enroll. Home schooled children I have found are very sheltered and most are scared of being not accepted and/or not prepared for main-stream society. I consider "public school" as terrible as most people think of it, is nothing more than a dry run of how kids will handle themselves in society. If anything the point of school is to learn, find something you want to do with your life, make (sometimes) lifelong friends. For the uptight I have a joke for you if my rant has done nothing for you. I believe the point of school is to learn how to live life in the society you are in.

True story: a student walks up to the principle one day and asks, "Whats the point of going to school?" He replied in a stern voice, "your safety!" The kid looked at the principle confused?

Wake said:

View Poll Results: What is the point of School?

Click to expand...

The whole point of school is academics so you will be able to get employment as adult.Diversity and other **** is irreverent.

Is it not obvious why we going to school?
Its so those damn overpaid, union loving, liberal, socialist, greedy teachers can indoctrinate our kids to be good liberals...

At least that is what the right wing tells me.... And we all know the right wing is always right...

we go to school to get a good education and to get skills.

they run the school to make money.

sometimes, they also run the school to help the future of America be well-rounded citizens, who are prepared for the society that awaits them.

Here's what I think the point of school is:

1.)------------------

Parents can teach their children individually, but chances are they have a day job and are not 100% studied up on all of the “core” subjects like history, math, english, ect. Schools centralize these teaching experts, who are studied up in their respective curriculum, to teach our children (presumably) in a much more effective manner than would a parent with only minimal knowledge in each subject.

2.)------------------

School is one of our first ‘separation’ mechanisms that will take a group of people and will tell us who is more productive and who is less productive. The process isn’t perfect, and of course we have the story of our geniuses who perform poorly in school, drop out to start a multi-million dollar company, ect, but IN GENERAL this is what school does.

Smart, productive people will go to better colleges, and will be directed into better jobs on average, while the ‘slackers’ or those who are not as intelligent will get in to less prestigious schools and will have a more difficult time landing high-profile jobs.

jamesrage said:

The whole point of school is academics so you will be able to get employment as adult.Diversity and other **** is irreverent.

Click to expand...

BS. In order to BE an Adult you have to be able to ACT like one....which requires socialization training.

disneydude said:

BS. In order to BE an Adult you have to be able to ACT like one....which requires socialization training.

Click to expand...

What do you mean?

Wake said:

What do you mean?

Click to expand...

Getting a job and being successful in one isn't just down to what skills you possess or how smart you are or think you are. It's also down to how you relate to others, how you handle social situations and your ability to work together as a team on an issue.

And as I get older I'm beginning to realise high school dynamics in terms of the way people relate to eachother never really dissipates in adult life, they just get more subtle as time goes on.

School exists for academic reasons. It doesn't exist to provide a social life or promote diversity (nor should it).

Thunder said:

Private schools and colleges are a business. They exist to make money.

How do they make money? By charging students for an education.

Click to expand...

Or just charging them. Making a profit doesn't always require a fair exchange.

Thunder said:

we go to school to get a good education and to get skills.

they run the school to make money.

sometimes, they also run the school to help the future of America be well-rounded citizens, who are prepared for the society that awaits them.

Click to expand...

I think this is the first post Ive been on that I agreed with you on.

You go to school to get skills. ultimatly what your supposed to do is learn a skill like building. And once you get into the real world apply it.

And by making money I assume that you think of it like this. The more and better the skill, the more you get payed. Great pay means more taxe dollars for the government.

Schools does help you become a more well-rounded person. Escpecially a civics and economics class. Where you get to learn and understand that this is what the government is and this is how it works. Also, you get used to be arounds classmates which become your future co-workers. In the real world, you work together with co-workers and in school you have group projects.

Wake said:

What do you mean?

Click to expand...

Exactly what I am saying. Yes, schools exist to provide academics. But they also exist to teach socialization...manners.....human interactions....etc.

The points of school, in this order:
1. State Babysitting
2. Socialization and Indoctrination
3. Academic Education based on terrible standards and one-size fits all approach that dumbs and slows it down for the lowest common denominator at the expense of the attention of the gifted.

disneydude said:

Exactly what I am saying. Yes, schools exist to provide academics. But they also exist to teach socialization...manners.....human interactions....etc.

Click to expand...

True. Many people go to school for many different reasons. And schools try to meet those needs and desires as best they can. Some schools are predatory, a symptom of education for profit, and often take more than they give, all with the blessings of those they take.

But, overall, you're quite correct to suggest there is more than one reason for a school. BTW, we also seed small business here. yet another function a school can serve.

This thread hasn't answered the question of what schools should be doing but it has shown that our schools could be doing a better job of whatever it is they're supposed to be doing.

the point of school is to get an education, which includes learning how to properly and successfully
function in an increasingly diverse society. and when I say "diverse", I mean in terms of values, ideas, religions, politics, and yes....race/ethnicity.

Wake said:

Do you believe the main point of school is to get a good education? To me, it must be about academics. Period. Learn the hard mathematics at a young age. Learn about the sciences. Don't cloud minds with politics and biased ideas. Acadmemics like math aren't biased; they are neither right nor left. As for science, without empirical proof, students should not be taught that the Big Bang happened.

Click to expand...

The Big Bang Theory is the one which best describes the observables. Why should it not be taught as the accepted scientific theory?